Pre-apprenticeship programs serving the construction industry in the Portland-metro area continue to be popular.

And it’s clear why.

Contractors, unions and other stakeholders know that graduates of such programs – including Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.’s Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC) – are more likely than others to thrive in the trades. Retention rates are better for pre-apprenticeship graduates, and they’re better prepared to hit the ground running when they are hired, according to industry officials.

“It’s about bringing in people that are ready to go work, and sometimes that jump from high school to the industry is a difficult one,” said Aida Aranda, director of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 737 Training Center in Northeast Portland. “It’s just being well prepared for coming into the industry. And that’s where I think pre-apprenticeships do have a place.”

Amid a prominent shortage of skilled labor in the construction industry, the DJC is taking a closer look at how OTI is making a difference with its TACC, which is offered quarterly through the Pathways to Success Program. In the second part of a three-part series, industry insiders and professionals speak about how TACC graduates are better prepared to enter the trades and how contractors are benefiting.

Building skills, connections

Amy James Neel is OTI’s training director and a 25-year construction industry veteran. She previously founded and ran Left Bank Construction, a homebuilding firm. She knows what contractors are looking for, and that is what OTI delivers, she said.

“The reason our graduates are a better hire and why they are more likely to succeed is they know what they are getting into,” she said. “This program is modeled after the expectations of the industry. This is a mini version of what the industry is going to expect of them, and they know exactly what they are signing up for.”

Students in the TACC gain industry-standard soft skills as well as time and opportunity to determine which skilled trade is right for them.

“Not only do they have the trade options,” Neel said, “but the big benefit of having gone through (TACC) is that at the end of that eight weeks each student gets to meet with a career counselor and set a path for how to get to an end goal.”

If a student likes pile driving or welding, for example, Neel said, OTI career counselors can rely on deep connections in the industry and send graduates to the appropriate apprentice coordinators.

“Each of them have different requirements,” she said. “So, one of the benefits is that you have access to all that information, and we can directly connect you with what you need to start a career.”

Mercy Sammah graduated from OTI’s pre-apprenticeship program several years ago. Now, she is a carpenter working on residential projects big and small. She also is a carpentry instructor for OTI; last week, she taught students at Dignity Village in Northeast Portland. There, students who plan to focus on a carpentry career are building a pair of tiny houses.

TACC graduates are definitely better prepared than those without similar training to enter the trades, Sammah said.

“When a student comes here (to a training site), they’re not going to be just hammering all day,” she said. “They’re going to learn to use multiple tools, multiple power tools, multiple hand tools. They get to learn everything about it and I get to teach it to them.”

Watching students gain confidence is Sammah’s favorite part of being an instructor, she said.

“I think they’re extremely employable,” she said. “I know when our students get on the list for apprenticeships they get higher up to the top just by being in this program. And Oregon Tradeswomen has such a good reputation within the trades that they know we’re not going to allow them to use tools improperly; we’re going to show them the right way.”

A different kind of employee

Many people who have experience working with pre-apprenticeship graduates tend to agree that they more often than not are better prepared for the industry.

An apprenticeship is a very different path than college, according to Bridget Quinn, the workforce development coordinator for the NECA-IBEW Electrical Training Center in Northeast Portland. Pre-apprentices, she said, have a “realistic expectation” of the workplace culture they are entering. Despite IBEW Local 48 being “swamped” with apprenticeship applications, she added, those with completed pre-apprenticeships usually stand out.

“The majority of their time is spent in the field working with other electricians, and it’s not at all a college environment,” Quinn said of the typical apprentice electrician. “The real world is that these contractors are out to make a profit and complete their projects. And there’s very little leniency. Pre-apprenticeships focus on the soft skills, and I think it really gives them a leg up in that regard.”

Leah Thibeau is an administrative assistant at the Pacific Northwest Ironworkers Local 29 Training Center in Northeast Portland. She doesn’t directly train apprentices, but she handles applications and other aspects of hiring and has closely observed which types of applicants tend to succeed as ironworkers.

“Depending on the pre-apprenticeship program, and Oregon Tradeswomen is absolutely one of the best, we usually get really strong candidates from them,” Thibeau said. “It’s people who have been exposed to a variety of apprenticeships and a variety of trades and they make an educated choice compared with people who walk in the door and don’t have that.”

Contractors are no different in their experience.

Portland-based Vigor Industrial is one of the largest marine contractors in the Northwest. Hilary Pickerel, workforce development manager for the firm, said it has routinely hired apprentices for shipbuilding trades directly from OTI and other pre-apprenticeship programs.

“In our experience,” she said, “the women that complete OTI’s pre-apprenticeship programs, with the intent to begin an apprenticeship program, have a high level of commitment to the job and to a career path within the trades. These are exactly the type of employees Vigor wants.”

Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. instructor Elizabeth Bryant helps frame a tiny house being built at Dignity Village in Northeast Portland. Bryant works as a stonemason when she isn’t teaching OTI pre-apprenticeship classes. (Josh Kulla/DJC)

The company’s connections with OTI and others, Pickerel said, are also helping it overcome a shortage of skilled labor as well as increase workforce diversity.

“Partnering with organizations like OTI helps us fill those gaps,” she said. “Our sense is that because these women enter the trades with understanding as to the work environment and commitment to a career in the trades, they are more likely to stick with it and progress.”

For TACC graduates, it’s about getting into and surviving an apprenticeship, Neel said.

“Bills, child care, travel – all of those are really rough on new apprentices, particularly single mothers,” she said. “And we can help you through that process. That connectivity is something that is critical for marginalized populations of people getting into trades.”

More opportunities and diversity

Aranda, who serves on the Oregon State Apprenticeship and Training Council, said the training being performed by OTI and others is an important service. The Oregon Legislature last year even helped ensure more usage of apprentices when it passed House Bill 2162. It requires contractors handling certain state public improvement projects to employ at least 10 percent apprentices.

“When you look at apprenticeships, it is such a public service,” she said. “You’re training people and using public funds in the construction industry for that training. We’re investing in our youth.”

Meanwhile, OTI is reaching a segment of the population significantly underrepresented in construction. The industry has long employed primarily white men, Neel said. Pre-apprenticeship programs help overcome those barriers and even end up benefiting “legacy” firms dominated by family connections.

“Women and people of color have been locked out of that secret handshake,” she said. “White men don’t have trouble accessing it, but women and people of color do have trouble. So Oregon Tradeswomen doubles that connectivity that traditional workers already have. That’s a huge reason why pre-apprenticeships are important.”

Of course, to get there, individuals first must believe OTI’s Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class is where to start. Then graduates eventually reap benefits that can be shared by employers.

“If they enter an apprenticeship after our program, they are absolutely ready and committed,” Neel said. “And that’s just not the case with someone who only knows about the industry peripherally.

Editor’s note: In the final story, scheduled to appear Sept. 3 in the DJC, Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class graduates will discuss what they’ve learned and how they hope to apply it in the construction industry. OTI officials and builders will explain how employment connections can be made.